The Restaurant Zone, LLC (www.therestaurantzone.com), is an online classified ad platform focused exclusively on the restaurant industry. The site acts as a hub for food service professionals and dining establishments, allowing them to browse and post jobs, equipment, events and more. Users of the Restaurant Zone will have the ability to browse industry- centric listings without the distraction of spam, scam and irrelevant ads that competing sites contain.

Presently, the classified ad industry does not offer a platform that specifically caters to restaurants and food service professionals. Through extensive research, the Restaurant Zone has identified four unique areas of concern:1. Restaurant professionals often have difficulty finding an industry-exclusive classified ad platform for posting and browsing restaurant-related ads. Thus, they are forced to utilize sites that host a wide variety of industries and categories that do not serve their immediate interests. This dilutes the effectiveness of industry-specific advertising, lengthens the time a post is left unfound by those it pertains to and heightens the amount of work required for job seekers to locate desirable posts amongst inapplicable ones.2. Content on classified ad sites is often left unmonitored. Users consistently experience issues involving invalid email responses, illegal scams, frustrating spam and encountering non-categorical ads. This lessens trust in generic posting hubs, creates unnecessary confusion in the posting and response process and can deter top talent prospects.3. Users are often affected by distractibility when surfing classified ad sites. User attention tends to scatter when exposed to various stimuli. In researching demand for the Restaurant Zone, we often heard the same example of distraction, which can be summed up in a personal anecdote given to us by a frustrated restaurant owner:

“Recently, I was looking for a Sous Chef to fill in at my restaurant. While looking on Craigslist I got distracted by an ad promoting ‘making income from home’ and then moments later I found myself browsing used motorcycles because I like repairing them as a hobby. I spent the next 15 minutes browsing motorcycle ads before realizing why I was on the site in the first place. I know it’s my own fault but I’m not a fan of wasted time because I have a business to run.”4. Functionality and enhanced features are often very limited on major classified ad sites and as a result, the experience for both posters and browsers lacks substantially. Many job boards consist of text-only posting boxes or showcase the inability to upload documents, or even set a cap on the number of postings an account can manage at any given time, all of which has a direct effect on users on both ends of the experience. Our goal is to encourage users to get creative with their ads.The Restaurant Zone address and solves the above problems in three specific ways:1. The Restaurant Zone exclusively serves the restaurant industry and associated parties. The site hosts categories that encompass restaurant jobs, equipment, property, events, merchandise, software and more, thus creating a niched, user-friendly posting and browsing experience that’s tailored and targeted.2. The Restaurant Zone has customized, sophisticated filters to block spam, scam and irrelevant ads. In addition, the site has a dedicated team that monitors ads submitted to the site to ensure quality and relevance.3. The Restaurant Zone safeguards user attention by limiting the amount of categories they encounter. Restaurateurs save time through being exposed to fewer distractions and as a result, money is saved indirectly as well. The site boasts a clean, organized, responsive design and offers users the shortest route to browsing and post industry-specific ads.The Restaurant Zone’s features and unique benefits are as follows:a. In-ad “negotiation” buttons, which allow users to efficiently negotiate with posters and make an offer for a product or service. This creates the notion that negotiation is expected and normal. This feature can only be activated by the seller or poster and is an available option to the buyer or interested party.b. QuickPost, which serves as a ‘one click’ posting solution for users. The Restaurant Zone creates an ad quickly to save clients valuable time.c. Classifieds are automatically promoted on the Restaurant Zone Blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and 55+ job boards. Cross promotion is managed by a social media team.d. A business profile for users to designate their website, description of product or services, social media accounts and access to a personalized dashboard for tracking classified ads.e. Featured and Boosted Ads, which represent premium options for posters who want to give their ads exponential attention.f. A resume search engine for recruiters to source top talent.g. A simple contact form for browsers to initiate communication with posters. It filters spam and also allows users to instantly upload documents (e.g. resumes, PDF files, images, etc.).h. An in-house resume database search is used to pool more applicants for recruiters and employers